Paper short abstract:

This paper compares indigenous food and taste in historical documents with those appeared in modern recipes of the indigenous culinary dishes. I argue merits and demerits of the cuisine as the cultural heritage, which is an appliance of civilization, for the local foods and its taste.

Paper long abstract:

The Cuisine as the cultural heritage is expected to inherit traditional food culture and create a new culinary practice from it. Its taste will be also expected to pass down its authentic flavors to next generations. However, culinary practice, especially according to the recipe may change the taste of dishes from the past ones especially when according to modernized recipes. This paper discusses what merits and demerits of the cuisine as the cultural heritage emerge as an appliance of civilization, while enacting a new local foods and taste.

In Taiwan, a social movement focusing on respect for indigenous peoples, cultures, and various indigenous rights was launched in the latter half of the 1980s. So-called "the aboriginal movement" mobilized and made the indigenous peoples keenly aware of their ethnic identity. They have developed the costume that visualizes the ethnicity and promoted language education that aurally brings up the ethnic identity within their community and beyond.

The indigenous cuisine also has developed as a means of representing food heritage and also as a resource for tourism and culture business. While the indigenousness is emphasized, ingredients, seasoning, and cookery used with this indigenous cuisine are different from those in the past. As a result, the original taste of the indigenous foods and the culinary practice are not necessarily inherited.

This study compares the contents of foods and cooking of the indigenous peoples in historical documents with the contemporary recipes of the indigenous modern culinary dishes, by examining the continuity and discontinuity between them.

Paper short abstract:

Culturally produced palatability makes the boundary between the fermented and the rotten unsettle and relational. This paper discusses the movement of regional fermented food into urban culinascape.

Paper long abstract:

Fermentation is a preservation technology that has been practiced over millennia in human history and prehistory. Food cultures in Southeast Asia and East Asia are known for fermented fish and fish sauce (Ishige and Ruddle 1990). As kombucha in North America exemplifies, over the last four decade a variety of regional fermented food and beverage are commoditized as healthy choice, both bodily and environmentally, and moved into new urban markets.

However, distinct appearance, odor, and texture make it uneasy for ones to acceptance newly introduced fermented food. Against the term 'culture', fermented food and beverage tend to be associated with nature. While the naturalness is valued in postindustrial consumer societies, it connotes uncontrollability and risk of rotting. For consumers who have not acquired the taste for newly introduced fermented food, the boundary between the fermented and the rotten relies more on cultural preference than biological constraints. How do consumers describe the taste and distaste of fermented food and beverage? What sensory experiences of food - appearance, odor and texture - make fermented food acceptable or inacceptable?

Taking fermented fish as a case study, this paper discusses the movement and placement of regional, traditional fermented food into urban, modern and postmodern culinascape. With ethnographic data drawn from participant observation, semi-structured interviews and literature reviews, I examine how consumers negotiate their sense of edibility and palatability to accept the taste of unfamiliar heritage food, while reproducing the boundary between the fermented and the rotten, natural and non-natural food, healthy and unhealthy food in the contemporary consumer society.

Paper short abstract:

I focus here on the special human and ecological settings necessary for “the numb taste” to exist. I will thus show how durians, which can transmit it, are adapted to, and at the same time afford, the transmission of the taste within (very) local food pratices.

Paper long abstract:

The durian is a well-known Southeast Asian fruit. Among Westerners, it is especially reputed for its smell, but in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, it is a favorite over all other fruits for the wealth of its aromas. Despite its great diversity of flavors, it may be stated that the main criterion in durian lovers' taste lies on the way the fruits blend and balance sweetness and bitterness.

In some parts of Malaysia, however, amateurs are much less interested in these qualities than in a strange feeling that only lasts a very short time, and which is only found in some durians: "the numb taste". This unique taste seems closely related to the paresthesia effects caused by Sichuan pepper. In this paper, I focus on the special human and ecological settings necessary for the numb taste to exist. While focusing on the relationship between fruits, environments, and people, I show how durians are adapted to, and at the same time afford, the transmission of the taste within (very) local food practices. Finally, I speculate on what the world, and our way of inhabiting (dwelling) it, would be if the obscuring experience of the numb taste were as commonly popular as sweetness.

Paper short abstract:

This research looks at different cultural perceptions about insects as food by comparing ethnographic data from Southeast Asia and the United States. Why do some cultures accept insects as food while they repulse others? What makes an insect culturally appropriate to eat, and others inappropriate?

Paper long abstract:

Creepy, crawly, wiggly, and slimy, perhaps these are some of the ways you've described insects in the past. How would you feel about eating them? According to the United Nations insects are an underutilized food resource that have the potential to help feed the world's growing population. Insects are acceptable food in 80% of the world's cultures. This research looks at different cultural perceptions about insects as food by comparing ethnographic data from Southeast Asia and the United States. Why do some cultures accept insects as food while they repulse others? What makes an insect culturally appropriate to eat, and others inappropriate? What flavors and textures are most enjoyed when eating insects? What insects are least enjoyable? This research discusses these questions and considers environmental and nutritional benefits of incorporating insect foods into mainstream US diets. Upscale restaurants in the United States have started offering minimal insect foods on their menus, is this simply a trend or is it here to stay?

Paper short abstract:

Edible insects are increasingly promoted as a 'green' protein, and their sensory benefits are often used to market them. But in many Western cultures, they face considerable obstacles which go far beyond issues of sensory appreciation, as perceived food inappropriateness still hinders adoption.

Paper long abstract:

To address a looming protein gap as the world's population increases to 9 billion in 2050, many advocacy groups, notably the FAO, are promoting entomophagy - eating insects - as an environmentally sound alternative to conventional resource-intensive cattle or pig rearing.

In many cultures of the world, insects are already an important part of the human diet; close to 2000 species are regularly consumed in 113 countries . European, Canadian and American populations, however, generally express an extremely strong negative reaction - even genuine disgust - to the idea of eating insects. Most would consider them a starvation food, an attitude that is unique historically and cross-culturally.

Using edible insects as a case study, my research thus asks how culturally-constructed negative reactions to unusual foods can evolve and be transformed. In this presentation, I will examine some of the ways in which insects are making their way to Western plates, as well as the challenges they face in terms of acceptance - challenges that surpass matters of taste and accessibility.

Indeed, such partial stances as the promotion of sensory pleasure or environmental benefits do not take into account the full spectrum of issues related to insect consumption, which include perceived food appropriateness, cultural determinants of food choice, assessment of physical and symbolic risk, cultural appropriateness and appropriation, systemic discrimination and colonization dynamics, nature conservation, preservation of traditional food cultures, food security, and potential economic development associated to entomophagy.